Multiple ball control



Nov. 1, 1938. 'r BACKHOUSE 2,135,206

MULT IPLE BALL CONTROL Filed Jan. 16, 1936 IN VENT OR. b22015) 75WMS'f/VD fink/must B Y mmm m ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES MULTIPLE BALL CONTROL Headley-Townsend Backhouse, London, England Application In 9 Claims.

This invention consists of improvements in or relating to machines for feeding sheets of paper, card or the like either singly or as a series of single sheets in partially overlapped formation from a stack or pile of such sheets to a machine orpress, and has particular though not exclusive reference to such feeders for feeding sheets to printing presses.

In machines of this kind a known method of conveying the sheets from the stack or pile towards the printing press or like machine is the use of continuously moving bands or tapes which ride upon the feed board and uponwhich the sheets are placed singly or in partly overlapped 1: formation by means with which the present invention is not concerned. The sheets are held in contact with the moving tapes by means of small rollers or wheels termed running-in wheels, which rest upon the upper surface of the moving sheets and are pressed against them eitherjby their own weight or by spring loading. It is common practice to use several sets of such running-in wheels between the pile of sheets and the press, each set comprising two or more running-in wheels symmetrically disposed across the conveyor or the feed board. The running-in wheels are commonly mounted on brackets which are adjustably but not rigidly attached to bars located above the conveyor or feed board, and so in the operation of the machine that set of running-in wheels which is furthest' from the pile of sheets is so located that when the front edge of the leading sheet on the conveyor reaches a station at-which lateral adjustment may be 35 required (e. g. the front laysof a press) then the rear edge of that sheet has just passed from beneath the running-in wheels. This arrangement leaves the sheet free "for the lateral adjustment operation to be performed (e. g. by a sidelay), which operation could not be freely performed if thesheet were still gripped between the running-in wheels and the moving tapes.

In order to' maintain the leading sheet in the flat condition in whichit was drawn from be- 45 neath the running-in wheels, it is common'practice to employ balls (usually of metal) which rest upon the upper surface of the leading sheet when it is at the adjusting station. Each ball is commonly held loosely in a cage or container 50 having in its base a hole through which the ball protrudes but cannot pass. This assembly is known as a ball control and is located above the conveyor or feed board and sufflciently close to it to enable the protruding ball to rest upon the 55 sheets being fed.

January 16, 1936, Serial No. 59,439 Great Britain July 2, 1935 In practice it has been found that different weights'of ball are required to suit the various thicknesses and stiffnesses of different classes of sheet being fed, and on this account it is frequently necessary to remove a set of ball con- 5 trols and to replace them with a set having a different weight.

In the accompanying drawing, the single figure, is a fragmental perspective view of a ball control applied to a sheet feeder, showing a sheet 10 engagedby the control. v

The present invention provides ina sheet feeding' machine a ball control for. applying pressure to the surface of each sheet in turn as it reaches apredeterrnined position, while allowing adjust- 1 ing movement of the sheet in any directionin itsown plane comprising the combination with a set of-balls of a ballcage mounted above the feed 'way of the sheets and so arranged as to permit, by adjustment of the cage in relation to 20 the sheet, of variation of the ball pressure on the sheet without substitution of the cage. Preferably the balls which may be of different weight, are arranged in the cage in line in the direction of feeding of the sheets and the cage is movable 25 in that direction to vary the number of balls in contact with the sheet. The cage may also carry a running-inwheel located behind the balls, considered in the direction of movement of the sheets, and free of the sheets when they reach the predetermined position.

A specific embodimentofmy invention as applied to a printing press will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which I is a sheet being fed towards'the press,.in the direction of the arrow, by means of endless tapes 2 moving upon a feed board 3 and the running-in wheel 4 is mounted on bracket 5 which consists of two portions hinged together at 8 and is adjustably 'se- 40 cured to bar 6 by means of thumb-screw The point of the screw 1 engages with a keyway cut in bar 6 and prevents the bracket 5 from rotate ing about bar 6 which itself is attached to and supported by the framework (not shown) of the sheet feeding machine. That part of bracket 5' which is nearest to the press forms a cage 9 for metal balls H), H and l2'which protrude down? wardly through holes in the cage into contact with the sheet. The'balls are graded in weight 60 and are held in position by pins l3. The runhing-in wheel t is provided with a rubber tire and the oven-all diameter of the running-in wheel is so determined in relation to bracket 5 that when the tire rests upon the sheets being fed then the base of the cage 9 is close above those sheets but does not touch them, although the balls Ni, ii, I! protruding through the holes in the base of the cage rest upon the sheets.

It is to be understood that although only one running-in wheel assembly with ball control ls shown and described two or more such assemblies are usually used and with the arrangement employed in this example are disposed across the feed board or the conveyor at such a distance from the front lays of the press that when the front edge of the leeding sheet reaches the front lays then the rear edge of that sheet has just passed from beneath the wheels 4 which do not then touch the sheet.

In the operation of the device, if it is desired to use the full weight of the balls then the bracket 5 is so adjusted along the bar 6 that when the front edge of the leading sheet-is at the press front laysthen the balls are approximately in the position shown in the drawing, namely all the balls are resting upon the leading sheet and are near to its rear edge. If it is desired to use a lesser weight of balls, then bracket 5 is moved a short distance along bar 6 in a direction away from the press and isthen so located that when the front edge of the leading sheet is at the press front lays then the rear portion of that sheet is not touched by all the balls in the ball control, as one or more of the balls are resting upon the tapes or (if the sheets are being fed in overlapped formation) upon the next following sheet, The position of bracket 5 may be further altered until only one or even none of the balls is in contact with the rear portion of the leading sheet when the front edge of that sheet is at the press front lays.

It is not essential that the variation in pressure applied to the sheets be obtained by-varia tion of the number of balls in contact with the sheet. Thus only one hall may be in contact with the sheet at any time and the variation in pressure may be obtained by employing balls of different weight. For this purpose a plurality of balls of different weight may be mounted in a cage which is rotatable about .a vertical axis or about a horizontal axis. In the former case the cage may be in the form of a horizontal disk with the balls protruding from the under surface and the position of the axis of rotation so chosen that at any time only one ball is on the sheet being controlled, the remaining balls resting on the next following sheet or on the conveyor surface. In the latter case the cage may be in the form of a vertical disk with the balls arranged to protrude from the circumference so that on rotation of the disk only the lowermost ball contacts with the sheet. It will be appreciated that with this arrangement the cage may be located in any position above the sheet and not necessarily near an edge of the sheet.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a plurality of balls therein, said cage being mounted above the feed-way of the sheets; and means for adjusting the cage in such manner as to subject a sheet passing therebeneath to greater or lesser ball pressure for the said sheet adjusting movement.

2. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving tapes for producing travel of sheets thereover while permit ting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a plurality of balls therein, said balls being of diiferent characteristics in respect to insuring traction between said tapes and the sheets being fed, said cage being mounted above one of the tapes, and means for adjusting the cage parallel to'the plane of the tapes to subject a sheet passing therebeneath to different traction effects during the sheet adjusting movement.

3. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage. a plurality of balls therein, said balls being of different weights, said cage being mounted above the feed-Way of the sheets, and means for adjusting the cage to alter the ball pressure exerted upon the sheets being fed during the sheet adjusting movement.

4. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a plurality of balls therein arranged in the cage parallel with the direction of travel of the sheets, said cage being mounted above the feed-way of the sheets, and means for adjusting the cage in the direction of such feed to vary the number of balls in engagement with a sheet at a' predetermined point in its travel.

5. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a plurality of balls therein of difierent .weights arranged in the cage parallel with the direction of travel of the sheets, said cage being mounted above the feed-way of the sheets, .and means for adjusting the cage in the direction of such feed to vary the weight of balls in engagement with a sheet at a predetermined polnt in its travel.

6. In mechanism of the class described, moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover, a bracket mounted above said moving means, a running-in wheel carried by said bracket adapted to engage sheets passing over said moving means, a ball cage also carried by said bracket in advance of said running-in wheel, and means for adjusting said bracket parallel with the direction of travel of the sheets.

7. In mechanism of the class described, moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover, a bracket mounted above said moving means, a running-in wheel carried by said bracket adapted to engage sheets passing over said moving means, a ball cage also carried by said bracket in advance of said running-in wheel, said cage having a plurality of balls therein arranged parallel with the direction of travel of the sheets, and

means for adjusting said bracket parallel with the direction of travel of the sheets.

8. A ball control for sheetfeeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving means for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a plurality of balls therein, said cage being mounted above the feedway of the sheets, and means for adjusting the cage to bring different balls into contact with a sheet lying therebeneath during said sheet adjusting movement.

9. A ball control for sheet feeding machines adapted to cooperate with moving tapes for producing travel of sheets thereover while permitting adjusting movement of the sheet in its own plane, comprising a ball cage, a. plurality of balls therein, said balls being of different characteristics in respect to insuring traction between said tapes and the sheets being fed, said cage being mounted above one of the tapes, and means for adjusting the cage to bring different balls into contact with a sheet lying therebeneath during said sheet adjusting movement.

HEADLEY TOWNSEND I B ACKHOUSE. 

